In the urban area of ​​​​Tsumae, there is an ancient castle built in the early 17th century, called Tsumae Castle. It has been well preserved after all the wind and rain. It is now one of the only twelve remaining castles in Japan.

With Tsumae Castle as the center, a Tsumae Park covering an area of ​​nearly 50 hectares has been established, in which nearly 5,000 cherry trees are planted. Every spring, the dancing cherry blossoms are beautiful.

This is where the Tsuzen Sakura Festival comes from.

To the west of Tsumae Castle, there is a moat that was originally a tributary of the Iwaki River and is now an independent moat. Both sides of the river are covered with cherry blossom trees. When the weather is calm, the cherry blossoms are reflected in the water and are indescribably gorgeous.

In addition, there are cruise boats on the river.

Naruse and Haisei, who came with their parents to play before the Cherry Blossom Festival started, sat on one of the rowing boats.

The person rowing the boat was Maki Seiichiro. In order to maintain balance, the two children sat on the other end of the boat, while Matsu Chiaki did not come up. He sat on a bench by the river and watched with a smile.

"Don't squeeze me."

Starfish clung to the side of the boat and turned to glare at her stepbrother beside her, "I'm about to fall."

Naruse ignored her, grabbed the side of the boat on the other side, and shrank back, trying not to touch her as much as possible.

However, the hand-rowed boat is only so big, and the two children dare not get too close to the water. There will always be friction during the rocking.

"Don't push me!"

"Who pushed you?"

Haixing and Naruse glared at each other.

Sitting opposite the two of them, Maki Seiichiro sighed with a headache.

"Starfish, if you come out to play once in a while, don't quarrel with Harumi. Look at the cherry blossoms by the river..."

"He keeps squeezing me!"

"I didn't, it was the boat rocking."

"Look, Chunhai didn't do it on purpose..."

"He did it on purpose!"

Maki Seiichiro could only sigh.

Looking at his expression, Haixing knew that her father still didn't believe her, but she could feel that the stepbrother next to her looked innocent, but he always had a little deliberateness when he squeezed in.

He just wanted to knock her into the river!

As for the reason, Haixing can also guess it.

In addition to the usual tit-for-tat confrontation between them, it was also because Chiaki Yumatsu was originally accompanying them on the boat. She lost her temper and was replaced by her father.

When Seiichiro Maki waved to Chiaki Matsu on the bench on the shore, Haixing turned his head and glared at Naruse, who was squeezing over again, and he looked at her expressionlessly.

Hidden behind the collar, a red mark from her fingernails was slightly exposed on her neck.

"..."

The flash of guilt in her heart made her expression soften for a moment, and her eyes lowered.

But only for a moment.

There are also traces of him left on her body.

Just when he raised his eyes again, he had already turned his head and looked towards the river.

Looking along, it was Matsu Qianqiu who was smiling and waving to them on the bench.

How hypocritical...

Starfish immediately turned his head away and looked to the other side.

The water surface is calm, with no waves, and patches of pink cherry blossoms are floating in the air.

Bored, she stretched out her hand to pick up a piece.

The river water was still a little cold, so she suddenly retracted her hand, and the petal she was interested in drifted away with the waves.

"..."

For no apparent reason, a strong thought suddenly surged in her heart to pick up that piece.

Starfish moved to the side, leaned over and stretched out his arms.

Most of her body was exposed outside the boat, and the river seemed to be rippling on her face. She herself felt that it was a bit dangerous, but the cherry blossoms were already close at hand.

We'll meet you soon...

At this moment, the boat beneath her suddenly shook.

Eh...

At the moment of losing balance, looking at the water getting closer and closer, Starfish felt only confused.

Plop!

"Starfish!"

Plop!

The aroused water waves wetted the past, and in the midst of the waves, they finally calmed down.

On the Hozu River, Haixing looked away from the water. The person sitting on the other side of the boat was still the same person from back then, but the relationship between the two was no longer that of stepbrothers and stepsisters who could not be squeezed together.
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"...As I said, you fell by yourself at that time."

Naruse gently paddled the oar, "And I was the one who jumped in and picked you up."

Starfish clung to the side of the boat tightly, "You got cramps when you jumped off. It was dad who picked you and me up."

"..."

Naruse was silent for a while, using a blank expression to cover up the embarrassment of suddenly recalling that past.

I obviously want to forget this part...

After coming back to his senses, he looked at the nervous Haixing and shook his head, "At least it wasn't me who shook you down."

She has a deep memory of that past, but still sticks to her own ideas:

"It's you..."

"Tsk."

The embarrassment had not yet subsided. Her inexplicable and persistent frame-up made him a little angry, so he took the initiative to rock the boat.

"Yeah——"

The starfish screamed immediately.

"That's how you were shaking!"

"..."

Naruse was so angry that he laughed.

"Spring sea, starfish——"

Hearing Haixing's scream, Takigawa Hikari called out from not far away, "What's wrong?"

Naruse sneered, "She's going to jump into the river."

Hikaru Takigawa: "Hahaha."

The starfish screamed, "Light, help—"

Hikaru Takigawa: "Hahaha."

She rowed the boat and slowly came closer, "I feel like you are very happy."

"..."

Starfish collapsed a little, looked at her boat, and even began to consider jumping over once she got close.

Naruse saw through her plan at a glance, shook his head, took a deep breath to calm down, and planned to end this farce.

"You can say whatever you want about the past, but if you don't move now, the boat won't capsize - if you jump over, it will definitely capsize."

"..."

Starfish immediately looked away to deny the speculation that he was a direct hit.

"This kind of hand rowing boat is not that easy to capsize." Hikaru Takigawa said with a smile, "Don't worry."

Takigawa Yue also comforted her with a few words.

Starfish had nothing to say. Although he was still holding on to the side of the boat, he was not as alert as before.

"Let's go over there and have a look." Hikari Takigawa pointed to the other side, "Get closer to the maple leaves."

"Yeah." Naruse rowed the boat and adjusted the direction.

In order to take care of the worried starfish, he slowed down his movements, and the distance between the two boats gradually widened.

Arashiyama is reflected, the maple trees are dyed, and the surface of the Hozu River seems to be burning.

"If I come here half a month later, the maple leaves here will have almost turned red, and it will be even more beautiful by then... although it's not bad now."

Haixing was stunned for a moment. Seeing that the Takigawa sisters in front of him showed no reaction, he realized that Naruse was talking to him.

"...Oh."

Naruse looked upstream and said, "If you come here in the summer, you can also experience rafting on the Hozu River."

Responding and actively asking are completely different things. After a long time, Haixing said: "Have you been here before?"

Naruse was also a little surprised, but he quickly answered: "I came here once during the summer vacation two years ago." Read the book

Are you with that person? Haixing wondered in his mind.

"I've also taken the little train here."

"Hey, it's hard to make a reservation?!"

"Well, you have to make an appointment a week in advance."

After paddling, the boat approached the other shore. The layers of maple trees stretched out their branches and leaves, almost hanging into the water.

There is a path on the shore, and many Tsugao students have already walked here, including people who know Hikaru Takigawa.

"Let's play together~"

"I told you not to be too showy... Several teachers are coming over here."

"It's okay."

Having said that, after staying under the maple leaves for a short while, Hikari Takigawa paddled towards the middle of the river.

After rafting for a while, they returned to the shore after enjoying themselves. The four of them went down the river again and went to Togetsukyo Bridge and the nearby Arashiyama Park.

It wasn't until 4:30 in the afternoon that the third-year students of Tsugao gathered to return. Naruse and the other two didn't stay much longer and took the train back to Gion.

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